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Costa Rica is a very mountainous country, and this has created a few unique cultural
aspects and has truly altered the people's way of life. The most noticeable
of these changes is that the Costa Rican people appear very European, particularly
when compared to neighboring countries. Unlike many other countries in the region,
where the Spanish and indigenous people intermarried in large numbers, there were
almost no indigenous people present in Costa Rica due to the geography so the people
of Costa Rica today have a much higher percentage of Spanish blood in them and hence
the culture is more closely related to that of Spain than that of the indigenous
people.

A big reason there were few indigenous people in the region was that the mountains
are difficult to maneuver, but the forests are also dense and there is little farm
land. This made living off the land a difficult occupation and even today few people
live off the land as there is little money to be made in farming. Additionally,
the European diseases the Spanish brought with them killed most of the people that
did manage to survive in these forests.

Despite the small indigenous population, the Spanish settlers and the indigenous
people generally got along and intermarried, although the number of Spanish greatly
outnumbered the local population so most people appear almost wholly Spanish. Despite
this, the number of both groups was small as the Spanish put very little money or
effort into the region since there was little farmland or natural resources to make
a profit from in the region.

Since the Spanish colonization efforts essentially ended at the borders of Costa
Rica, the people in the region became quite poor during the colonial period. Just
as the lands had been prior to colonization, the lands were very sparsely populated
after Spanish colonization. Also, since there was little good farm land, most people
in the country moved to the mountains where the temperatures were cooler, something
that led to the growth of coffee, which is still one of the country's largest
exports today.

Even today the people of Costa Rica remain similar to the Spanish as their traditions
dominate indigenous ones, most people are Catholic, speak Spanish, and even eat
Spanish foods. However, the food is truly a combination of locally available foods
with Spanish influence, making the cuisine fairly original on a world scale, but
similar to other Central American countries. Coffee plantations are still a viable
way of life, but farming in the valleys and fishing along the coasts are also popular.

Despite the similarities to Spanish culture, the poverty of the country during the
colonial days means many aspects of Spanish culture never arrived or were simple
not affordable or accessible. Due to this, the culture in Costa Rica didn't
wholly reflect that of Spain, nor did it reflect that of the indigenous people or
the other Spanish colonies. Costa Rica has aspects of all these past influences,
but is unique in many ways due to its past. Today it seems to be moving forward
fairly steadily as coffee is simple important, but the economy is becoming more
reliant on tourists, who seek out their coasts and mountains, creating a growing
service industry.